Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 20, 1970, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
THE DAILY TAR HEEL Pndoy. Februcry 20. 1970 Rick Allen -m 77 Veer c Editorial Freedom Loiisciousiie And m m -m HP i i Ji. lie teraiio: iLd Editor Pag 3 Two Iif 1 rflr Peter Too, Too "I find the men in this trial too dangerous to be at large. That was the way Julius Hoffman described the five men convicted Wednesday of going to Chicago to incite riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Hoffman's refusal to permit the five to go free on bond is but a symptom of his sickness, a sickness which has been evident in the travesty of his bench-work during the conspiracy trial. He did not behave impartially. Rather, he played the role of an adversary. He engaged in the tactics which the defendants themselves used in an effort to taunt the judge. And regardless of the merits of the defendants tactics, it is not the function of a judge to step down from the bench and join the fight on the floor. That kind of judicial behavior is no more than a virus which is a threat to the body of our entire political system. Hoffman's behavior comprised an almost innumberable amount of atrocities: he had defendant Bobby Seale gagged and tied to his chair; he constantly overruled defense objections without even hearing them; he, engaged in childish bickering with the defense counsel. Simply, he permitted to himself, (if, that is, he had any conscious control over his actions) to become a party to the argument, rather than is an objective observer of it. Ik also cited the defendants and essag A e From "Above all, let us inspire young Americans with a sense of excitement, a sense of destiny, a sense of involvement in meeting the challenges we face in "this great' period of our history. Only then are they going to have any sense of satisfaction in their lives. " Richard Nixon January 22, 1970 Editor Of The race for the editorship of the Daily Tar Heel has begun and at first glance it seems that confusion is the sole synthesis of this rather confusing year of controversy concerning the Tar Heel. Candidates, co-candidates, endorsed candidates, independent candidates. Because the issue of the Tar Heel is such an important one. on this campus, and because there are so many candidates running for editor, we are going to try to present the story of the campaign as fairly and clearly as we can. Beginning next Tuesday, we will present a series of reports on the feelings of various editorial candidates on certain campus issues-political issues included. The editor of the Tar Heel exerts a good deal of influence on the campus, and the question has arisen this year whether the students, who pay for the newspaper,; should first of all have to pay, and second, if they do have to pay, should be able to control the political stands of 9Avf Buret L'a.r Wh7t Bobby Now!! Mry Burch Art ChanAy Managing Editor News Editor Associate Editor Arts Editor Sports Editor Bob Wilson Frank Stewart Business Manager Advertising Manager Hatch Night Editor this issue Dangerous their counsel to contempt after the proceedings, rather than during. And as if that weren't enough, he sentenced the defense counsel to an unprecedented hard jail term. Hoffman's brand of justice is a sickening testimony to the American judicial system. The quick, intelligent response to his courtroom operation is at least . gratifying. The responsible criticism expressed against his methods might perhaps lead to some kind of legal moves to inusre that the Hoffman Tragedy does not recur However, it is important to remember that Hoffman is no strange phenomenon that exists apart from the rest of reality. Rather, Hoffman is a sickening symptom of what this country is coming to. John Mitchell, who calls the Black Panthers the greatest threat to the security of America is such a symptom. Spiro Agnew, who talks about the cmd of American radical youth is such a symptom. Hoffman is the child of a society which seeks to destroy aberrations, without granting those aberrations the same rights as any other segment of the society. And because people like Hoffman exist, and hold positions of power in our government, the threat to our system of law is more than can be overcome by mere criticism. The answer to the next question is not a very easy one. The I an The the editor. The editorial election serves, in some respects, as a check on the direction which the Tar Heel will take. The students, therefore, should have some idea how the various candidates' feel about certain issues. Therefore, we are going to conduct a forum, asking the candidates how they feel. We will try to give an equal opportunity to each hopeful candidate. . As far as the readership of the newspaper is concerned, we might suggest that those to whom the issue of the Tar Heel is important, might pay careful attention to the editoriar campaign. The lesson of the past teaches that very few (usually less than 25 of the students) vote in the election for editor. However, as the system now exists, every student has the right to vote, in- conjunction with that, we , feel every student should have the right to know who arid what he is vtiting for., DTH During the brutal murders of a Fort Bragg mother and her two children, the killers are alleged to have chanted "Acid For this reason, many people have concluded that the killings were induced by LSD, that the drug was responsible. When this feeling, is couDled with the J arrest of 14 young j men for selling rJruzs. we have the possibility that their trial will reflect the emotional reaction of the public to the "drug scene" as a whole, and not simply to the crimes of which they stand accused. It is important for us to take a step backward and try to study the drug situation as dispassionately as we can. To begin, let us avoid the easy assumption that drugs have been the CAUSE of either the Tate or the Fort HE'5 MOT A BAPICAL, A STUDENT PARTY Jim Eldriclge iras9:Jdees Again North Carolina takes the lead in ' education. Albert Wilkerson, a teacher for 24 years, is to be given a hearing in District Court in Lillington next month on charges of showing an obscene film to elementary children. The obscene film was provided by the state, and its obscenity lay in the fact that it was on human reproduction. It was a sex education film, and sex education is something children should not have, apparently. Exce'pt on the streets, or at drive-ins, or from a blushing parent stammering euphemisms. Wilkerson said he was dismissed from his job. The Harnett County School Board contends that he resigned. Whatever the case, the school board said the film was designed for high school students, not for Mr. Wilkerson's eighth grade pupUs, and that it was supposed to be shown to boys and girls separately. Wondertuf. We've come a long way since this writer was in elementary school (if the eigh;h grade that's 13 and 14 years old is to be considered "elementary"). My sex education in school (I'm speaking of what I learned IN class) consisted of a session in the sixth grade where the boys and girls were separated and the teacher asked us boys if there was "anything you'd like to know." "About what?" we thought, and then decided "No, man, let's go to recess." Junior high and high school biology books taught me that plants do it (in a 'weird sort of way) and wild animals do it, and (quote) "human reproduction is accomplished in much the same way." My sex education, from the classroom, that is, was complete. But now, we have FILMS! Although they appear to be rated, just like the REAL movies, and you have to 'be a certain age to learn that what you've been ' doing all . this time could lead to yes! (Whisper:) p-r-e-g-n-a-n-c-y. - V But at least Harnett County has (had?) some form of sex education, unlike many other more "progressive" parts of the SMI 5 Tib Bragg murders. People kill because they are sick. What is possible is that this sickness is brought out of aggravated by drugs. But. obviously, drugs do not force people into homicide. It is also a mistake to lump all drugs together. Some are dangerous, some are harmless. A line must be drawn between those drugs that are injurious to the individual that uses them and drugs that make the user dangerous to society. It is my opinion that in a "free" society, the individual has the right to kill himself in any manner he chooses. If he wants to deteriorate on speed, for instance, he should be allowed to. On the other hand, addictive drugs, like heroin, often cause crimes and are therefore dangerous to society at large. If a user cannot afford his next fix, he will often- steal the money he needs. These drugs must be made illegal. But at the same time, those who are already hooked must be cared for. We should set up a program similar to England's, where the addict can get his fix from the JuST CWlPATF. state. Earl Warren is gone and the Birchers have found a new CAUSE CELEBRE. And the battle over the right to teach the birds and the bees is being fought by some of the most mule-headed people in existence. Tragically, the children are the ones who suffer. A recent case in Winston-Salem points this out. Anti-sex education forces had set up a table, complete with petition, in the hall during registration at a local high school. They had a tape recording of a lecture giveia by a quite prominent sex education teacher to a class somewhere else in the country. Finding the section of the tape where the professor compared the medical terms for intercourse with those slang words employed by most people, the anti-sex forces played back to each passerby the four-letter words out of context and told already wary parents that this was what their children would 'Malcolm Straggle They say he died quickly brought on to be sure by the decisive and painless bullets of the gunshot wounds lodged in his limp body. Death for him was grotesque as indeed, pitiless was his life, His eyes were opened and his mouth slightly ajar somewhat befitting the horrible and senseless deed of death by a brother's hand. His life was one, long, uphill climb. He had championed many creeds and had tampered with many established rituals. His was an endless search for self-definition and the exegesis of the black man 's role in relation to the white world. Back then, his goal was radical and his tactics, revolutionary. He was what one can call the Martin Luther of the Civil Rights movement and the Calvin of the Black Revolution. His life was also a lonely one Emersed in dangerous intrigues and petty yet violent factions, he was.robbed of his fame by the white man and denied the love and respect of black man. During his lifetime, his crux was two-fold. With his death came his glory A book, a University, an endless series of monographs and posters, to the memory of the unsung and fallen hero. His world contained only himself. A single man, weak, defenceless man, yet a veritable giant and the most deserving father of the Black Revolution. His day is February 21st: honor it and his name is Malcolm X and it DOES spell greatness. : - Herman Mixon, Jr. 210 Can Halt government. I have said that most drugs should be legal. However, there remains the problem of the very young, the junior high school kids who have not the judgment to decide whether or not they wish to use drugs who may innocently injure or kill themselves without intending to or realizing what they are doing. Obviously, the legalization of drugs must cam with it a stipulation as to age. It should be a serious felony to sell drugs to anyone under 18. For the young who musi seek their thrills (and this is the real reason for many of the drugs taken by the young), marijuana should be legal at any age. It may be that in some mysterious way pot is harmful, but we do not know for sure, and it is clear that kids are going to get their kicks with something so it might as well be a drug as relatively safe as pot. Once they have passed 18, the kids can mess themselves up freely on almost anything. I realize that this is a dark picture, but Lvnda Stedman Daydreams Defeat o u tin e The girl walked around in a routine. Her feet moved her down assigned pedestrian paths. Walk. Don't walk. Her car catered to society's signals. Here you must stop. There you can go. Bells beckoned her to particular places at certain hours. She awoke to clock bells. Answered telephone bells. But secretly she loved bells that just rang out nice notes and didn't call her in. Still she kept appointments, answered roll calls, wrote neat notebooks, paid her rent. She divided her life into a piecemeal of "now you do" and "now you don't." This time is for sleeping or for eating or for studying. . These minutes for buying stamps or eating an ice cream cone or walking with a dog. Now you think about Milton. Now Locke. Now you put mathematical puzzles together. But the girl found she could not sub-divide her mind. - She could compromise her efforts with the" calendar: and clock. She could I categorize, devise, revise great busy schedules and chop her physical day up just fine. But she aspired beyond the outline. . She did not draw comfort from routine, but put up with it. She did not designate an hour for dreaming, but let it come naturally. For some dimensions cannot be restricted ro set up for time, place and subject matter. So the girl chose the so-called easy route of daydreaming. Her mind was her playground. She held on to the monkey bars of reality, but she climbed from realm to realm. Trip uu rrn o leli 1 be taught. Later on in the day, a group of pro-sex education parents set up a table on the other side of the hall with their own petition. A big beer truck driver (who had been indulging in his cargo) walked over to the pro table, slammed down a large wrench and demanded to know what these parents were doing. "We felt that anyone who is for sex education should also have a chance to sign a petition," replied the pro leader. "You can't do that!" stormed the truck driver. "Don't you understand?! It's gotten so bad now that I can't even take my kid to a movie, because when I do, it's not five minutes before some sonovabitch has said something dirty!" After realizing the incongruity of his statement, the driver walked off, blushing just a bit. There is more sadness than humor to si V u it t it is practical. The young are in trou ty ro w with drugs, and the situation !s getting worse. It is manifestly clear tha; our present programs are ir.su fficsrr.:. When the kids want drucx ar.d pvor-y want to sell it to then, a few token arrests are not going to slop the trade. In the years to come, many people ; : ruin their lies with the us? of dru It a sad, but we must allow them to do u. Society itself is not in dar.ger. It re. likely that so many will he drug ustT that our whole countrv grind to an apntretv halt. In the meanwhile, it is high time mo understood that people sorcj themselves to hell one way or another. The best we can do is protect the one-time users, the experimenters, and the innocent from laws that may ruin their lives. It makes no sense to damn a your.; man or woman for the occasional u.v of drugs. Let us be practical. Let us humane in dealing with a problem that has no simple or lasting solution. -Briefly A yellow rose but, a wooden flower, a burgundy leaf. They took her back in memory to the forest where she and lover had walked and talked without words. They had pursued the mountain. Higher. Higher to new plateaus. He had pointed out spruce pines and moss growing to the north. He had found oaks wounded by lightning and told her storks about the gaunt old chestnuts that rose like skeletons out of the mountain. Ghost trees, he called them. And he told her how the inside of a rose is its soul. And how the bees are very wise because they can suck out the soul and know the nectar. He wrapped her up warm with his arms and made her watch a stream tumble over a waterfall. Like slow motion. . Something in the forest had aroused an emotional spontenaity in them. Outrage at the sight of a discarded beer can or initials carved on a tree-Tliert there vas joy "and laughter, tolling oul sincere and unrestricted. The girl was smiling when Somewhere. A light changed; a bell rang; a dream disolved and the girl stepped back onto the curb or reality. A here and now that quickly diluted a joy into a sadness. But then she had denied herself the security of bare routine. She had wandered past the structure. Decided to live beyond exist. And she had caught herself hanging one-handed from the bar. Afraid and sad and happy. : Im N. C. that story. It is typical of the kind of unthinking prejudice that opposes sex education. But we cannot let our pity for this man and those like him stop us from moving forward. We must see that their children need not be pitied. It is just an assumption, but one would think that with 24 years of teaching behind him, Mr. Wilkerson would know how "educated" his eighth grade class at Anderson Creek School is and whether the state-provided film on human reproduction was a little too "advanced" for their viewing. One would also assume that parents who are either afraid or unwilling to teach their children about sex would realize the injustice being done these youngsters. Injustice which may lead to tragic mistakes. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to sex education. What the individual will not do, the state must. And that includes telling folks the facts of life. The Daily Tar Heel is published ; by the University of North Carolina student Publication's Board, daily excapt Monday, examination vj . periods and vacations and during xj ; summer periods. Offices are at the Student Union :$ EIc Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514. Telephone numoers: editorial, sports, news-933-101 1; business, circulation, ad vertising 933-1 1 63, Address: Box 10S0, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514. Subscription rates: $10 per year; $5 per semester. We regret that we .can accept only prepaid subscriptions. Second class postage paid at U.S. Post Office in Chapel Hill, N.C. V. Tale
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 20, 1970, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75